“This year the high performance camp has taken a more serious approach, and the focus is now on becoming an athlete who happens to play hockey, not just a hockey player out there having a bit of fun,” she says.

Many of the staff members have noted an improvement in the camp’s level of play, even compared to just last year’s camp in Bratislava, Slovakia.

“The skill level is a bit higher, partly because the federations sent their best athletes because they now understand how much the athletes get out of it, and they want to give their top players that opportunity.

“But a part of the development is simply a matter of girls getting more attention. There’s more confidence and belief, and there are more things happening at home, and women’s hockey development is no longer just one camp a year. Even if new developments are coming slowly, the results come fast,” Foley says.

This was the first time both the high performance camp and the hockey development camp were held under the same roof.

“On the development camp the focus is on the whole world, and we had people from, for example, India, Macau and Hong Kong attending the camp. It will probably take a long time for them to be on the high performance camp side, but now they’ve had a chance to share the same building and be here, they’ve seen a world that they might have never known existed,” Foley says.

“It’s been a great opportunity for the people in the development camp to see what the top nations are doing, and to learn, and maybe one day we’ll see people from the development camp in the high performance side,” says Darryl Easson, the IIHF’s Sport Development Manager.

Even the game officials had some extra instructors at the camp, and a program that was more advanced than ever before. Also, one of the new things on the officials’ camp was the first-ever trial of a four-man system which, according to initial reactions from the referees, seems to have been a success.

“This is the first generation of female hockey players who have hockey as their first sport. People in the past have started out with another sport and gravitated towards hockey as it became available to them,” says Foley.

As for coaches and other staff, it may be the same. For many, switching to women’s hockey has been just that, a switch. An eye-opening one.

“Many here started on the men’s side, but as soon as they come to women’s hockey, they love it. The players are doing it because they love the game, and it’s the same with the coaches. That’s it, there’s nothing magical, it’s just passion,” says Foley.

“There are definite differences, girls are different from boys, and they’re motivated by different things. That’s what makes it special and that’s what’s part of the education here. The coaches that we have may not get as much support at home as we’d like, and even when they do get it, it’s from the men’s side. So it’s a different perspective,” she adds.

The good news for women’s hockey is that each investment yields big returns. Still, growing the game takes time, and patience is a virtue. Foley says it takes about a generation to change people’s attitudes and thinking processes. However, by sharing experiences, the process can be speeded up.

“Every nation is at a different stage, but they also face the same challenges, but at different times. Here you can talk, and see what you can share and how you can help,” says Foley.

“The under-18 age group is our focus right now, but down the road we may look at even younger age groups because if you don’t start training properly by the time you’re 16, you’re already way behind and may never catch up,” she adds.

But even if the camp ends, the work continues. With new found vigour and determination.

“A camp every year is a priority for us, for sure. It’s important to give everybody the opportunity to see what the rest of the world is doing and measure themselves against the others. The unique thing with women’s hockey is that different countries do work together. Not many sports do that.

“It’s a matter of continuing to work with the players on the high performance side, and have them understand what they will have to do. On the development camp side, we want to share the love of the game, and find the future leaders of the sport around the world. That’s where you get the strength: people who really want to see things move forward,” says Foley.

RISTO PAKARINEN]]>on top2012 Campon top03 Canada06 FinlandMacauHong KongIndia on leftWorldsSat, 21 Jul 2012 09:37:00 +0200The many hats of Hayleyhttp://www.iihf.com/channels1112/camp/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=7092
Wickenheiser is a mentor, ambassador, but still a player firstHowever, this week she has also been the athlete ambassador mentor at the IIHF High Performance Camp, working with the six athlete ambassadors, other top players themselves, who are assigned to each of the six HPC teams.

“First and foremost, I consider myself a player and I’m not ready not to be a player anytime soon,” she says, laughing.

“I’m responsible for the athlete ambassadors, I’ll share our experiences, speak on different topics, and then spend some time on the ice with different groups. We're developing and helping the athletes to understand what it’s like to compete at the next level,” she adds.

And she should know. As she told the participants of the camp’s Observer Program during her presentation about promoting girls’ hockey, “I’ve seen it all.”

Her career spans over 15 years, in different leagues, in several countries, including Finland and Sweden where she played in men’s leagues. She’s won three Olympic gold medals, and seven Women’s World Championship medals.

No wonder that she speaks, people listen. Hayley Wickenheiser is a true ambassador of women’s hockey.

“I think I understood around the Salt Lake Olympics in 2002 that while it’s important to compete for your nation and try to win gold medals, to drive the development of the sport, you have to share the knowledge. In Canada, we do have the resources and the money, but other countries don’t have it,” Wickenheiser says.

That’s why she’s in Vierumäki in July. That’s why she poses for photos with everybody who asks - and the lines get long - and that’s why in November, there’s the Wickenheiser International Female Hockey Festival in Burnaby, BC, Canada.

“Playing in Finland and Sweden inspired me to keep helping, because when you live in another country you understand their culture a little better and where they’re coming from. Then you know better how to help,” she adds.

Women’s hockey has taken several steps forward since 1994 when Wickenheiser - who played on a boys’ team - first made the Canadian national team as a 15-year-old, but there’s still a lot of work to be done.

“The level of play varies at the camp, each team has a bottom level and a top level of players, but I think, generally speaking, that it’s higher than last year in Slovakia. There’s a lot of room to learn the little details of the game,” she says.

“The key is what the players do when they go back home, if they implement everything they’ve learned here, great. If not, it’s sort of a lost cause,” she adds.

The camp’s focus has been on the fundamentals, even for the elite players attending the camp. According to Wickenheiser, one sure-fire way to improve the game is to make the players fitter.

Even if the flow of the knowledge is mostly from North America to the rest of the world, the camp gives something to everyone.

“A Canadian kid can learn just as much from a kid playing hockey in Turkey as the other way around. Camps like this are good for all players, everybody gets something out of it,” she says.

Even Hayley Wickenheiser.

“I see it as one package. When I share knowledge and try to inspire others, it makes me better. I learn from people here, and I like hearing the other girls’ stories from, say, South Africa. Sometimes you can get a little down on the game, and that’s when these positive memories fills my tank again,” she says.

At the end of her talk to the participants of the observer program, she reminded the coaches and other leaders in the audience of their role as ambassadors of the women’s game.

“Sometimes, you’ll have to speak for the players. There are still people who think that women should stay in the kitchen, cooking. That’s a reality and I think it’s OK to talk about it. But these athletes deserve the same respect as the men,” she said.

Everybody nodded.

RISTO PAKARINEN]]>2012 Camp03 Canadaon lefton leftWorldsWomenWomen U18on rightFri, 20 Jul 2012 18:13:00 +0200Let’s play hockey!http://www.iihf.com/channels1112/camp/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=7091
Number of female hockey players in Finland has doubled since 2006“In an average year, we have about 40 such events around the country, arranged by clubs,” says Johanna Pelkonen, the Female Hockey Development Coordinator at the Finnish federation, and the lead instructor of the development camp’s Learn to Play program.

And once the children have tried hockey, if they like it, they can join the club that organized the event.

The Learn to Play program had five instructors and 40 small girls and boys, for the 16 participants to work with. In short, the program focuses on providing the tools for recruitment of young players, specifically to increase the number of girls playing ice hockey.

Even shorter, it puts “fun” into fundamentals.

Last year was the first time the Girls’ Hockey Day was organized internationally as well and on Thursday, the Learn to Play program opened the Vierumäki rink doors to beginners in a summer version of the Girls’ Hockey Day.

The participants - children from the region, including boys in this summer version - got to try their hand at stickhandling and shooting pucks and balls off a board before hitting the ice for a 45-minute practice for where they got some skating tips, learned how to fall and get up, and got to play a little.

“This, the Girls’ Hockey Day, is how we can reach the girls who haven’t discovered hockey yet. The girls who play on boys teams, they’re there, we have them, but we have to get more teams for girls, and we have to make hockey look attractive to girls,” says Pelkonen.

That’s why the Girls Hockey Day in Vierumäki also had special guests like HockeyBird, the official mascot of the 2012 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship and that’s why there was a face painting station where the players were turned into lions.

And yes, on the ice, some players wore pink sweaters.

“The Finnish lion is beautiful, but it’s not a reason to take up hockey. We have to make it more of a girls’ thing, and different colour sweaters is one thing. Boys just want to have the puck and play, girls want to know how things are done,” says Pelkonen.

Of course, sweaters aren’t enough, and Pelkonen says that while the Finnish federation has been successful, there’s still more they can do.

“To be honest, when parents see hockey players with bloody eyes [like Finnish forward Jesse Joensuu’s at the 2012 World Championship], they don’t feel the urge to take their children to a hockey team,” she says.

“There’s no way around the fact hockey image is a little violent,” she adds.

That may be so, but Pelkonen is also optimistic about the future, and she believes that six years from today Finland will again have doubled the number of female players, to 10,000.

“Once we reach a critical mass, the recruitment will be a little easier. Our 5,000 is a good number, but football has 25,000, and is by far the biggest ball sport for girls. The tide is turning, though, and there isn’t as much resistance on the field anymore,” says Pelkonen.

The women’s national team’s success helps attract players, and attention, but the problem is that the team only gets any media visibility in Olympic years. That’s why Pelkonen wishes that the Finnish SM-liiga clubs would push more for girls’ hockey.

“If nothing else, they should realize that there’s a lot of fan potential for them as well,” she says.

According to Pelkonen, there is one way women’s hockey would be guaranteed more media attention.

“It’d be great if, say, Teemu Selänne’s daughter would pick up hockey,” she says.

RISTO PAKARINEN]]>2012 Camp06 Finlandon lefton rightWorldsWomenWomen U18on rightThu, 19 Jul 2012 21:12:00 +0200Emma the ambassadorhttp://www.iihf.com/channels1112/camp/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=7090
Nothing beats the power of a great example.One such person is probably right there on the ice with them and having lunch with them as each of the High Performance Camp teams has an athlete ambassador on site. Also, in addition to Saara Tuominen, Emma Terho, Delaney Collins, Isabelle Chartrand, Iya Gavrilova, and Alena Polenska, there’s also their mentor, Hayley Wickenheiser.

Former Finland national team captain Emma Terho (née Laaksonen) is the ambassador for Team Everest.

“I’m basically with the team all the time, on the ice as much as possible, and share my experiences in my career, the challenges that I’ve faced and how I got through them,” she says, as she pushes a baby trolley through the Vierumäki sport institute campus with her 5-month-old baby in a Baby Björn.

“Even if there’s not a lot of money in women’s hockey, and we don’t get paid, but there are a lot of other doors that hockey can open for the players,” she adds.

Laaksonen, 30, was a member of the 2010 and 1998 Olympic teams that came home with the bronze medals, she also has four World Championship bronze medals, made the World Championship All-Star team in 2008, and was voted Best Defenceman in 2000.

One door that hockey opened for her was the door to Ohio State University where she played between 2000 and 2004. In 2008, the Ohio State Buckeyes retired her number 3, and in 2009, she was inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame.

A week may not be enough for her to share everything.

“A camp like this is a good experience for the players because it gives them an opportunity to see where they stand in the world. It’s especially good for players from countries outside U.S. and Canada because they see that even if the pace is high and the quality of the practices is really good, they can keep up,” she says.

“It’s great for their confidence just like it’s good life experience for them to see they can get along with people who don’t speak their language,” she adds.

The Everest team has players from Russia, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden, Canada, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, the U.S., Great Britain, and Kazakhstan.

“I think both players from the top nations and the others gain respect for each other when they get together. The players from the U.S. and Canada, Sweden and Finland see what the players from other countries do to get here,” Terho says.

A big part of the camp is dedicated to building the foundation, not only on the ice, but off it, too, with the focus on nutrition and good workout habits.

“I think we have some of the world’s best experts here, and building that foundation is key because eating right and working hard are two things that every individual can do, regardless of the programs around them,” says Terho.

“The real work is obviously done in their home countries, and we hope that these players will then lead by example,” she adds.

One thing that is obvious, is the players’ and the coaches’ love of the game.

“These days, girls can play hockey on different levels, and from juniors to adults, and when there is no money in it, many of us are in the game simply because we truly do like it,” says Terho.

And that goes for ambassadors as well.

“It’s really a lot of fun being on the ice with the team,” says Terho. “So, yes, I’ll keep on playing, too,” she adds.

Everest’s players may one day get a chance to see their ambassador in action. And learn.

RISTO PAKARINEN]]>2012 Camp06 Finlandon lefton rightWorldsWomenWomen U18Thu, 19 Jul 2012 12:01:00 +0200Making better officialshttp://www.iihf.com/channels1112/camp/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=7089
The next generation of officials is ready to step upThe linesmen have been selected by the IIHF Officiating Committee based on applications submitted by National Associations. The referee program will identify the candidates ready for inclusion in the top group of referees for future assignments and serves to increase the number of game officials in the IIHF pool.

“To be a part of this program is a fantastic opportunity for me. I’m looking for ways to get better, and besides, hockey is about the only thing I want to do anyway,” says Anna Hammar, 17, who’s starting her seventh season as a linesman - yes, she started as an 11-year-old -, who plays hockey on a boys’ team, and who also coaches juniors at home in Sweden.

In Vierumäki, the 18 linesmen and 12 referees have been working on their skating, physical fitness, and game management under the guidance of Dave Smith, who also monitors the health and wellness of the NHL’s on-ice officials as well as NHL prospects in the minor leagues.

“I only work with them from the neck down. After they make they call, it’s all about the referee’s judgment, and I can’t argue with that. However, I can help them with how they get to the position on the eyes, how they move. Maybe she’d made a better call had she been at a better spot on the ice,” Smith says.

“If we can improve their skating proficiency so that skating becomes a non-though process, they can focus more on the officiating. And if we can improve their fitness level so that they have the stamina and the functional strength to do what they need to do, they’ll be better referees,” he adds.

Smith says that the goal is to isolate the areas that a referee can control and work on them.

"When we go out on the ice, we can’t control the game, we simply respond," he says.

Miyuki Nakayama was a linesman at the Vancouver Olympics, but she has since switched, and is now in Vierumäki as a referee. Understanding the importance of physical fitness is one thing she’ll bring home to Tokyo with her.

“If I don’t have the energy, I can’t focus and I’ll probably miss penalties and other things as well. The most important thing I’ve learned here is the importance of physical condition,” she says.

“The off-ice practices have been really valuable and what I need. I have good teachers for rules and game management at home, but what I don’t have is an awesome physical coach like Dave,” says Hammar.

The game officials have had a tough schedule at the camp, most often hitting the ice at seven in the morning, to go through the skating drills that Smith has set up for them. The work focuses on improving posture, working in a small space, and moving faster.

And then there are the off-ice lectures.

“There’s only so much we can do here so that the participants won’t break down. We’ve been doing things you can use anywhere and that are easy to do. Each one of the exercises can be done with just body weight or with more resistance. They’re same things I’m doing with my NHL guys,” says Smith.

“I can see now that we’re going down a little, but on Saturday, the last day, we’ll go hard,” he adds, with a smile.

The referees and linesmen at the camp are the pool from which the IIHF and the national federations will draw from in the future when assigning officials to international events. And the bigger the pool, the better the game.

“Having more female referees is going to be good for the game. It’ll also help former players to stay in the game, which is like what we did in the NHL. Players have the hockey sense, they have the lingo, but they have to understand that there’s a difference between friendship and respect,” Smith says.

“I think it’s really important to have good female referees and linesmen in women’s hockey. The game itself has come a long way, now it’s time for the officials, or it’ll never fully become the girls’ sport,” adds Hammar.

RISTO PAKARINEN]]>2012 Camp20 United States18 Sweden10 Japanon rightWorldsWomenWomen U18Wed, 18 Jul 2012 19:08:00 +0200Marathon womanhttp://www.iihf.com/channels1112/camp/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=7088
“This is not a sprint, and it never will be,” says Melody DavidsonShe also has another Olympic gold and two World Championship gold medals as assistant coach, but even with all her success, Melody Davidson says that she feels almost more pressure in her role as a member of the IIHF High Performance Camp leadership team, and lead mentor.

“I’m here looking after the coach mentors. We set up a curriculum, a schedule and set up a standard and level of expectation. The coaches’ job is then to execute the plan, and mine to monitor, troubleshoot, and assist as needed. I’m also available to give feedback if needed,” she says.

“I build the outline for the on-ice and offline sessions, the mentors fill in the blanks. Then the coaches come in and they start to work with their staffs. Most staff sizes around the world are 4-5 people, but here they have to deal with a bigger group, teamwork and guidance, and keeping 6-7 people up to date. And that can be a challenge. It’s somewhat easy to keep yourself organized but it’s not as easy to do it with a group of people,” she adds with a smile.

The pressure comes from the fact that as one of the most prominent figures in international women’s hockey, she’s carrying a heavy load for nurturing, not just one team, but the game itself.

“Definitely those of us who’re organizing and mentoring here feel a responsibility for growing the game. I almost feel more pressure in this position than I ever did as a coach,” she says.

“We’re still fighting ways of life and in many cases society’s views,” she adds.

But step by step, the game gets better, as the people working with the game get better and grow. At the 2012 High Performance Camp there are six coach mentors who work with the coaches in each of the six teams. The good news is that finding those six isn’t too hard.

“We created a list of top-end people who we think can help grow the game. Six are here but we had a list of probably 50 people at first,” says Davidson.

Halfway through the camp, Davidson is pleased with what she sees. Things are going according to plan, and according to her expectations.

“There’s always some resistance to the leadership. People that come here are well-educated and experienced and at times they get defensive, but it’s our job to open their viewpoints and give them options. There’s been both resistance and embracing of new ideas. I hope that after the week they feel it’s been worthwhile and that they’ve got a lot of new tools,” she says.

She also says that the level of play is better than just last year, and that, for example, the players’ skating has improved.

“We still have to work with goaltending, but the level of play is better than last year, and that’s what we want to see. In years to come, not next year or the year after that, but in ten or 20 years, we’ll have a number of teams than can challenge for the gold medal any given day,” she says.

That’s where the aim is. Davidson has her eye on the ball, but the target is not right here, right now.

“We’re in this together, and whenever you get people who share a passion together, there’s a great chance to network and make new friends and that helps to grow the game, too,” she adds.

“The women’s game is getting better, step by step. This is not a sprint, and it never will be. We’ll see success in small bits every day, we’re not going to just one day wake up and see 100 countries playing hockey, so we should enjoy the bits of success we see here,” she says.

No pressure.

RISTO PAKARINEN]]>2012 Camp03 Canadaon rightWorldsWomenWomen U18Wed, 18 Jul 2012 14:11:00 +0200Coaches’ coacheshttp://www.iihf.com/channels1112/camp/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=7087
Mentorship program an important part of the development camp.Enter the coach mentors at the High Performance Camp. Coach mentors like Henrik Cedegren from Sweden. The Quebec Nordiques’s seventh-round draft pick (141st overall) in 1984 is currently the head coach of Sweden’s under-18 women’s national team, and even more recently, the mentor coach of Team Olympus at the camp held in Vierumäki.

“I guess the idea of having national team coaches here as mentors is simply to make it a truly high performance camp. I was in Slovakia last year, and I felt that I, too, wanted to develop further, and this mentorship is a part of my development process,” he says.

“And hopefully I can help somebody else take a few steps forward,” he adds, as he takes a short breather between a goalie practice he was a part of, and Olympus’s next practice.

The team has been up since six in the morning so even a mentor feels the afternoon dip come on.

Olympus’s coaches are Sean Alderson and Vytas Lukosevicius, from the UK and Ireland, respectively. Two nations that are not known as hockey hotbeds. The goalie coach, Seánna Conway, is also from Ireland.

“I ask them a lot of questions about their process, what they think about and what they want to achieve with certain drills. We plan the practices together, but they’re the ones putting it all together,” says Cedegren.

“All three are really passionate and knowledgable. But, we all can learn new things, and sometimes all it takes is just a new angle on things,” he adds.

Last year, Cedegren was at the camp as a coach.

“My mentor was Jari Risku, the assistant coach of Team Finland, and he was fantastic. I’d actually like to be just like him. He asked good questions, and didn’t interfere too much with the coaches’ work, forcing us to learn,” he says.

“I’m sure Swedes know hockey just as well as the Canadians. We just don’t have the resources, the money or the number of players that they do, and that’s the problem,” says Cedegren.

He’s been impressed by the quality of players at the camp, even from countries that aren’t famous for hockey.

“All countries have great players, but not all of them have enough great players. You see a great player from a small nation here, and instinctively you think that they must have a great team, but maybe the girls here are all they have,” he says.

Cedegren acknowledges the fact that a lot of work still lays ahead for women’s hockey but as a national team coach he also knows that camps like this one can also have a more direct effect on things.

“We have to get better at basic skills, and generally speaking, the players still aren’t physically in as good a shape as they should be, which means that the game won’t be as fast as it should, as when the U.S. and Canada play against each other,” he says.

“But I have ten Swedish girls here, and if they make the under-18 national team next time, the tournament will be played here, and they’ve been here. They know how things work, and they have a little more experience,” he adds.

As for the mentor coach himself, seeing the passion the coaches on his team have for the game recharges his batteries.

“I’ll go back home with some new ideas from here, but I’ll also take with me their enthusiasm, and joy of getting to work with hockey,” says Cedegren, who hopes that some of his experience will help the coaches he’s mentoring.

“I hope that they’ll think of the big picture. If you don’t train and work out, it doesn’t matter how skilled you are. If you don’t eat well, and rest, you’ll get injured. I hope they’ll remember that everything is connected,” he adds.

RISTO PAKARINEN

]]>2012 Camp18 Swedenon rightWorldsWomenWomen U18IIHFTue, 17 Jul 2012 17:36:00 +0200Bringing down the wallshttp://www.iihf.com/channels1112/camp/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=7085
Women's hockey world comes together in FinlandThe High Performance Camp (HPC) is aimed at the next group of athletes and team staff who will be involved in the international game. Last year’s inaugural HPC was held in Bratislava, Slovakia. This year’s Hockey Development Camp, for the future leaders of women’s hockey, is the fourth one.

And where hockey is played, there are referees and linesmen. The Game Officials program gathers 38 participants to fine-tune their skills. The program will also identify the candidates ready for inclusion in the top group of referees for future assignments, such as the Sochi Olympics.

The Learn to Play program focuses on providing the tools to the people implementing the recruitment strategies, to get more girls to play hockey, and for nations that don’t qualify for the HPC - because they don’t have a national under-18 program - there is an observer program.

The foundation for the future is laid here. The foundation for the future of the players and coaches participating, and with them, the women’t game itself.

A good example of that was seen right off the bat, when the players participating in the high performance camp went through their physical tests on the first day of the camp. They were tested in sprint, vertical jump, distance jump, pullups, bench press and a run test.

Two days earlier, though, Steve Lidstone and Dawn Strout, the strength and conditioning coach mentors, had been testing the coaches.

“We were asked to come and coordinate the activities and to be mentors to the six strentgh coaches from around the world,” Lidstone says.

“Yesterday, we went through the warm-up and cool down procedures that will be used at camp. We’ve outlined a 20-minute warm-up for pre-ice or pre-workout, and a 15-minute cool-down program,” he adds.

The days when the players would just shower and leave the rink are over. Or at least they should be, but according to Lidstone, there are big differences in even things like warming up, when comparing the U.S. and Canada to the rest of the world on the women’s side.

“Different nations are at different levels. We’re trying to help others go get up to that level, because we do want to have a level playing field as soon as possible,” says Lidstone, head strength and conditioning coach for Canada’s Women's and Sledge Hockey Teams.

“Being here at the camp is all about the future. It’s all about development and creating some good habits that they can take home with them,” he adds.

That’s where the real work is done, of course. At home. Every day, away from Vierumäki, whether it’s in Falun, Sweden, or in Rouen, France.

“We’re going to see a jump. We’ll leapfrog the development by a decade. Remember, we’re in our 22nd year of women’s international hockey, and none of the players playing in the national teams now have ever seen these opportunities. For us to bring it to the other countries will level the field – as long as they do bring everything they learn here back home with them,” Lidstone says.

“It’s up to the girls and coaches here to do it,” he adds.

And they are.

“We have five development camps in Turkey this summer, one of them for women. Everything here is so well organized, it’d be great if all countries could do something like this at home,” says Ferhat Tozunler, who’s director of development with the Turkish federation, and participating in the observer program.

There are also two Turkish girls in the camp.

“Interestingly, the girls from the top nations always seem to be surprised to see hockey playing girls from Turkey,” Tozunler adds, smiling.

This week, though, there’s no Canada, Turkey, or Finland on the ice. Instead, there are teams like “Everest” and “Kilimanjaro”. Players and coaches from all over the world come together to work together.

“That is fantastic,” says Lidstone, and he sounds almost shy when he says it, as if worrying that he’s speaking in clichés.

“But it is. The whole world comes together here. We’re bringing down the walls,” he adds.

RISTO PAKARINEN ]]>06 Finland03 Canada20 United StatesTurkey2012 Campon rightIIHFWorldsWomenWomen U18Mon, 16 Jul 2012 13:51:00 +0200Two camps, one purposehttp://www.iihf.com/channels1112/camp/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=6199
Women’s Program expands; World Girls’ Hockey Weekend in Oct.For the first time, two camps will be held in the same place and at the same time. In the summer of 2012, the IIHF Women’s Hockey Development Camp will be held in conjunction with the Women’s U18 High Performance Camp.

Entering into the second phase of the road “To Sochi and Beyond” – the strategic plan for the improvement of women’s hockey – the IIHF is expanding its efforts from addressing just the women’s nations ranked 1-14 to encompassing the entire hockey world. The IIHF will now look at the women’s hockey nations ranked lower than 14 while still continuing many of its programs for the top nations for the development and improvement of women’s hockey towards and beyond the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.

Each camp will operate its own schedule and programs, but use the expertise and experience present at both camps to create valuable crossover opportunities. The High Performance Camp will see athletes from the top nations invited, while the Development Camp will feature athletes from any eligible IIHF member nations wishing to participate.

Hockey Development Camp

This season’s camp will be the fourth Women’s Hockey Development Camp. This season players will be girls born in 1996 and 1997.

More than 250 participants from five continents representing 30 nations will be taking advantage of this unique development and educational event for players, coaches, instructors, managers, administrators and directors.

The 2012 camp will feature programs for:

Player Development

Team Coach Development

Team Manager Development

Equipment Manager Development

Game Officiating Development

National Association Women’s Learn to Play Instructor Development

Goalkeeper Coach Development

All the programs are guided and lead by selected IIHF Mentors and Instructors.

High Performance Camp

In its first season, the IIHF’s Women’s Hockey program focused its efforts on the nations ranked 1-14 in the IIHF Women’s World Ranking. Programs included a Senior and U18 High Performance Camp, a Women’s Coaching Symposium, the IIHF Athlete Ambassador and Coach Mentor Program (AMP), the IIHF 12 Nations Invitational Tournament Series, among others. You can read about these programs here.

Now, entering the second season of these programs the 2012 U18 High Performance Camp will focus on player development both on and off the ice.

2012 World Girls’ Hockey Weekend

At the same time, the IIHF announced that next year’s World Girls’ Hockey Day, a global opportunity for girls to try out hockey as a new sport, will span an entire weekend. After the overwhelming success of this year’s World Girls’ Hockey Day on October 2nd, it was decided that next year’s World Girls’ Hockey Weekend shall take place on the weekend of October 13-14, 2012. Stay tuned here for upcoming registration information for next year and click here for the coverage on the 2011 event.